Child porn dad wins chance to appeal

Steven Penner is appealing after his conviction at Reading Crown Court last year

A father of two convicted for having more than 1,300 pictures of child porn on his laptop has taken a step toward clearing his name.

Steven Penner, 44, of Madingley in Birch Hill, was found guilty of 10 counts of making indecent images of children at Reading Crown Court in August last year.

He was given a community rehabilitation order.

Penner, a married man, has always maintained he is innocent and on Monday began a legal battle at the Court of Appeal in London to overturn the convictions.

In May 2007, police found more than 1,300 ‘thumbnail’ images of child porn on Penner’s laptop although the computer itself had not been used since January 2006.

During the trial the defence team accepted the images were indecent and had been downloaded to the computer, but the prosecution had to prove Penner had downloaded them while he was in the UK to secure a conviction.

The judge upheld the jury’s guilty verdict but conceded there was no evidence to prove the images had been downloaded in the UK.

On Monday, lawyers for Penner argued that since no evidence existed the jury should not have inferred the images had been downloaded in the UK.

After retiring to consider the judgement, appeal judge Sir Geoffrey Grigson, sitting with Lord Justice Hooper and Mr Justice Penry-Davey, granted permission for a full hearing.

He said: “If there was [evidence to prove the images had been downloaded in the UK] then this appeal is likely to fail, but, if there was not such material, then it is likely to succeed.

“What is plain is that the point is arguable and we, therefore, give leave to appeal.”